Mr. Turner is a seasoned and highly esteemed corporate attorney with extensive experience advising clients on commercial, credit, and regulatory issues in the dynamic and evolving energy and commodities sectors. He brings his knowledge and experience to bear, seeking prudent and practical solutions to problems that work from an industry perspective. His practice focuses on the physical and financial trading, marketing, structuring, and financing of a range of energy commodities, including power, gas, crude oil, petroleum products, environmental attributes such as renewable energy certificates (RECs), natural gas liquids (NGLs), ethanol, and other hydrogen-derivative products.
Mr. Turner counsels a wide range of clients, including major oil companies, financial institutions, hedge funds, independent trading and marketing firms, and large corporations on the structuring and negotiation of complex commodity transactions. His work includes drafting and advising on bespoke documentation (e.g., the various individualized contracts for intermediation arrangements; the suite of documents for a wholesale supply, hedging, and capital line transaction arrangement with retail providers; and the transportation, storage, tolling, and collateral agreements involved in a long-term tolling and processing relationship). In addition, Mr. Turner regularly negotiates less structured transactions through industry-standard master agreements such as those published by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), and Liquefied Energy Agency Program (LEAP), as well as master netting agreements, collateral support agreements, and credit support agreements. He also frequently advises clients on related corporate matters, such as entity formation, operating agreements, mergers and acquisitions, divestiture, corporate governance, and dissolution.
Mr. Turner has helped a number of large entrants – banks, trading companies, etc. – as they entered new trading markets, including assisting with the development of their documentation forms, credit and risk policies, and the establishment of trading compliance programs. When inquiries or regulatory investigations by agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), or various exchanges arise regarding trades or trading practices, Mr. Turner is there to advise clients on navigating the perilous waters.
He often advises on the specific restructuring and bankruptcy issues associated with the Bankruptcy Code's delineation of certain safe-harbor contracts – forward contracts, swap agreements, repo agreements, master netting agreements, and more. Mr. Turner has represented both debtors and creditors on issues related to early termination, termination valuation, collateral calls, liquidation, special defenses related to preference actions and avoidance, alleged fraudulent transfers, alleged utility status, and netting arrangements. For more than 25 years, he has represented clients in some of the largest and most high-profile energy and commodity bankruptcies.